


Where did you go?

by Renkocchi



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Gen, Guilt, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 22:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15229305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renkocchi/pseuds/Renkocchi
Summary: After Hiccup and Astrid find the Den, Astrid decides to put her trust in him, as he flies off to defeat the Red Death on his own, unbeknownst to anyone. When he doesn't return by the next day, Astrid has to make a decision. Tell Stoick about the Den, or not?





	Where did you go?

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by @howtodrawyourdragon over on tumblr, this is the post: https://howtodrawyourdragon.tumblr.com/post/175608428535/for-the-fic-title-meme-where-did-you-go .
> 
> A huge thank you to her for giving me such inspiration!

_“I'll figure something out.”_

 

Those words made him sound reliable and independent, and Astrid couldn't help but put his trust in him. She knew it was a wager -the boy had been hiding a dragon, of all things, she shouldn't have trusted him that easily, or at least that's what a voice in her head told her. But the young girl wanted to trust him. Even as she walked home that night and looked at the sky, expecting to see a non-existent black figure flying freely against the wind, she was faithful. Worried, but still faithful. The thought of running to the chief and informing him of their discovery crossed her mind more than once, but when it came down to it, she couldn't do it. She felt like she'd betray Hiccup's trust if she did that. And that was the last thing she wanted. She ignored the voice telling her she was making a mistake, a wrong choice. She had to trust him. So, she thought she’d lay on her bed that night and let her conflicted feelings be swallowed by a peaceful sleep. In the end, she didn’t get any sleep that night, tossing and turning, tortured at the thought that trusting her heart could lead to the destruction of the village, and to the loss of her friend.

 

 

Hiccup took a last glance back towards the village. The village he’d grown up in –well, not that he was any sort of adult now–, the village in which his father lived, his mentor, the girl of his dreams and his newly made… friends? He wasn’t sure yet. Either way, that village was his home; it was everything he’d known. And he knew, he understood full well that the chances of him returning alive weren’t high. Hiccup knew he was shouldering a great, heavy responsibility, a burden no one asked him to carry. But he was the only one who could do anything about it, and he wasn’t going to risk his home getting destroyed because of his fear. A fear that was more than logical, seeing as he could even die. He wanted to prove to his father that he was more than a disaster, more that the boy who couldn't kill a dragon. Hiccup wanted to prove he was worthy of being called a Viking.

“Okay, Toothless. Let's go, bud.” The boy took a deep breath as the dragon cooed gently at him.

The duo rode into the darkness of the night, unseen by anyone and anything; the Night Fury camouflaged them both. Toothless managed to keep his composure as they were nearing the Den, while Hiccup's stomach had begun to ache with nervousness. In reality, he had no plan. Well, at least, no good plan. His plan could easily be called suicidal, but that was the worst case scenario. If all went well, they'd be back on Berk by the next nightfall.

Now, the sun was slowly rising as Toothless landed on the volcanic island. Hiccup didn’t get off his dragon. Instead, he told him to fire at the volcano. Eventually, the gigantic dragon they’d seen earlier would come out, hopefully before Toothless ran out of shots. Or else, neither boy nor dragon would live to see the next day.

And so, Toothless fired. Once, twice. After the third time, a deafening roar echoed through the volcano and around the island. Hiccup had to close his ears, shut his green eyes and grit his teeth. Toothless too, lowered his head and growled in defiance, wearing a dangerous expression. He shook a couple of times, readied his wings for takeoff, probably controlled by the dragon giant, but calmed himself as soon as the roaring stopped. The boy too, let himself calm down, took in a few deep breaths and let out a heavy sigh of surprise. And then, even that breath was cut off. A tremor shook the island, followed by three more. Those tremors were the dragon; the giant was rising, walking out of the volcano. Another roar caught them both by surprise, but Hiccup managed to pull Toothless on the air. The Night Fury shot at the giant, a couple of blasts was all it took for the beast to rise on the air, torn out wings supporting its massive weight.

A majestic fight followed. Well, maybe not majestic, but if anyone had been there to see it, they’d have their mouths opened in surprise the whole time. Toothless, sometimes guided by his own instincts and sometimes by Hiccup, maneuvered desperately but somehow still gracefully in the air, the giant monster of a dragon following close behind. It went on for some time, and, just before Hiccup could finish it, Toothless’ tail was burnt off. Still, as the beast was charging its blast, Toothless and Hiccup found the chance to shoot at it. The gigantic dragon plunged to the ground, dragging the boy and his dragon along, in a massive explosion.

_I did it._

That was Hiccup’s last thought, before his senses sunk into a cold blackness.

 

 

Stoick was now getting worried. His son wasn’t at home when he woke up, he never showed up to kill the Monstrous Nightmare, and it was now nightfall. Almost a day with no sightings of his boy. A familiar sense of fear sunk in his stomach. He’d sent two different search parties scour the island, inch by inch, while he searched around the village. Not even a stone was left unturned. There wasn’t a raid that night either. Normally, on such a rare occasion, the people would celebrate in the Great Hall, but not that night. The village of Berk was quiet.

Astrid too, was searching of Hiccup, a strong feeling of guilt burdening her every move. If only I’d told the Chief. It’s still not too late. A part of her was telling her that, a part of her strongly believed that was the correct option but still, still there was another part of her that was faithful. _Surely, he’ll be back by tonight. Surely._ She fell into the trap of her own self-deception, even as she was guilty of having trusted that part of her the previous night. That hadn’t ended well.

She came to a decision. If Hiccup hadn’t come back by midnight, she’d tell the chief. _Hopefully, he’ll be back. I’m sure he’ll be back...Where did you go, Hiccup…_

Hiccup, however, was still nowhere to be found. When the guilt was about to strangle her, Astrid ran to Stoick’s house. She didn’t knock, she only opened the door.

“Hiccup?” A tired, hoarse voice greeted her, as did a tired, sleep-deprived face with eyes toned by dark circles. Stoick’s expression was a hopeful one, one that changed as soon as he saw the teenage girl standing on his doorstep.

“I’ve got something to tell you, sir.” He gestured at the empty chair across his, the one Hiccup used to sit at and draw when he was a child. Stoick’s eyes stung with tears, but he didn’t let them show. Instead, he lent his ears to Astrid.

“I… I uh, may know where Hiccup is…” her voice was small, barely heard by her own self, but as soon as she said that, Stoick rose from his chair and approached her.

“You know where Hiccup is?” Astrid nodded, and whispered something the man didn’t like at all.

“Yes, maybe, but, we’ll need a dragon to get there.”

 

 

After they loaded the Gronkle onto the ship, the Vikings set off to find the Dragons’ Den. Astrid was the only one of the children who was allowed to go with them. There were at least eight ships, filled to the brim with Vikings worried about their heir. They sailed for three hours, in complete silence, both father and friend praying to the gods. Stoick lost his calmness to anger and impatience multiple times, complaining and yelling about how it’s been hours and how there had still been no sight of a volcanic island anywhere near them, until finally, the Groknle began to try moving around, shaking its head left and right, until it finally settled on a direction pointing left. The ships followed the dragon’s instructions for another hour, but in reality, it felt much longer.

As soon as they hit land, Stoick was shocked to see a giant carcass, pieces of flesh laying around the shore.

“It’s the Dragon Queen… the one I told you about…” Astrid’s trembling words reached Stoick, but he was too focused on searching for Hiccup to answer. The two of them, along with Gobber, began moving towards the carcass, while the other Vikings split into south, west, east and north.

Having walked for a while, they were now nearing the corpse. Gobber was talking, trying to confront the father, who was getting paler by the second.

He couldn’t lose Hiccup too, not after having lost his wife. How could he handle something like that? He was a chief, he was strong, he had to be, but that didn’t mean he was able to accept something like that. No, he just couldn’t.

Suddenly, Astrid gasped and ran towards a black creature, one that neither of the men could recognize, still far as they were. But, as they ran closer, they held their breaths.

“A Night Fury…” Stoick pushed aside the girl, gently, putting enough power to only shoo her away, before kneeling down in front of the black dragon. A deep red liquid was soaking the ground.

“It’s Toothless. It’s Hiccup’s dragon…” Astrid whispered, uncaring of the gasps and expressions of the men. “But Hiccup’s not here…” Astrid walked towards Toothless with wobbling legs. She sat down and petted his snout. He opened his eyes, ever so slightly, and cooed. He made a small movement. He gently raised hiw wings, revealing a pale, injured, unconscious, trembling boy, whose green eyes were shut tight, whose freckled face was whiter than a sheet, whose leg was bleeding. A lot.

Stoick embraced his son like he never had before, and didn’t let him go. Gobber tended to his injuries while he was still cradled in his father’s embrace. On their way back to Berk, Astrid had explained everything about Toothless to the Vikings, and Stoick now caressed the dragon’s head affectionately, while still holding tightly onto his son.

The next few days were difficult. Hiccup had lost a lot of blood, and the village healer, Gothi, didn’t know if he’d be safe. She didn’t know if he’d live. Countless hours were spent on praying, Stoick found that to be the most reassuring way, only the Gods could help his son now, either way. It took a while for his condition to be stable enough for them to relax. And when Hiccup finally opened his eyes, a couple of weeks later, with Toothless by his side, not a soul could believe the miracle of his recovery.

His father spent a whole day talking to him, even though he was still too tired for that, scolding him for leaving like that in his own, for keeping a dragon, for Thor's sake, for scaring and worrying him.

And then Hiccup saw the fruit of his struggles. Dragons, those majestic creatures were living on Berk, not destroying it, but living on it. That was amazing. That made everything worth it.

"Hiccup, you're awake!" Astrid came to him late at night and even though he was with his father, that didn't stop her from attacking him with a hug so tight, it made him groan. His injuries complained but he was only surprised at the girl's gesture. Stoick chose to leave the room for a while. After she pulled away, she punched his shoulder.

"What, is it always going to be like this? Cause I--" Hiccup's words were cut off by a soft kiss. "…I could get used to it..." Astrid smiled at that, and then sat next to him, on the chair Stoick was using a few minutes earlier.

"Why did you go and do that?"

"What?"

"You almost got yourself killed. If we’d arrived even an hour later you’d have died.”

“I know. But I couldn’t let that dragon get anywhere near Berk. From what I heard, the raids have stopped. Isn’t that what this was all for? Mission accomplished.” Hiccup caressed Toothless’ snout and the dragon perked up his ears in joy. “I’m now able to keep this guy here too. It’s a win-win situation.” Astrid didn’t have anything to say to that. Instead, she raised her head a little bit more, to be able to take a better look at him.

Hiccup looked content, he looked happy as he was playing with Toothless, his face glowing with delight even though he had come so close to death. That’s what she’d come to admire about him. Astrid kept staring at Hiccup for a short while, only a few seconds, before he too turned to look at her. She smiled.

 

“I’m just glad to have you back.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing this! It's been a while since I last wrote anything with this much enthusiasm put in it! I hope you enjoy reading ot as much as I did eriting it! Kudos and comments are both much appreciated!!


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